Philippine Travel Notes

It's the biggest mosquito I have ever seen in all my life! I was in one of the buildings at the Government Center of Palo Leyte. While waiting to enter an office, I saw this thing on a wall. It didn't seem to be even bothered by human beings passing-by or near it. Da! Would its bite be more painful than the usual mosquito bite? Does it also carry diseases like dengue? I called to show it to my driver who attempted to touch it, and... This is such an amazing earth we live in! We never really fully know what next will fascinate us! Keep travelin'!

Do you remember that erroneous 'broadcasting' I featured last month. Well, rejoice kapamilya hahaha! This one is on their rival, and on national TV - Unang Hirit - (they don't have Region 8 based programs)! Can you see the error? It's on the ticker line, the phrases running from right to left at the bottom of the screen, which they use to announce "breaking news" or news updates. The word "operation" has no "i". Then again, it's very obvious that we can call it a "slip of the finger". They did not spell it the wrong way but probably in haste, missed typing the letter "i". Malayo pa rin sa " allowed " being spelled as "alloud"! But ABS-CBN can of course say, that howsoever minor, it is still an error. O sya sige, I will agree hehe! Basta alam ko at nang maraming manonood kung sino ang jologs! Not that I write perfectly even in my blogs. I also have a lot of mishaps with the English lang...

I've been to this restaurant that looked interesting as we passed by, so I (and driver) went in to dine! This is at the back portion of Tacloban's Astrodome that is "comebacking" as "food and entertainment venue" like it was, before everything was wiped out by ST Yolanda. It's this area facing Cancabato Bay. Maybe that witty funny Shakespearean aberration on the sign board enticed me. It says "to beer or not to beer, that is the question" by William Shakesbeer hehehe. The lower half of the board also made me grin (after rolling eyeballs). It says "PS: Sorry no Wi-Fi for now. Talk to each other, be full & get drunk"! I don't know, I'm not sure... maybe it was also the look and feel, the setup, the setting, the ambiance of the place that attracted me to it. I like that color of wood, their furniture and the wall art. It's cozy-nice! The food is good, but not even unique, because (I think) I can find similar fare i...

I was passing-by, and saw a number of tourists walking towards this house / store / spectacle. Known more popularly as the home of Lumen's Pastillas and Delicacies , I know it's also 'home' to some birds. I have seen this "interestingly weird" house sometime in 2009 (maybe 2010) so I asked my driver that we drop-by for a moment to buy delicacies and to see how this house is doing - with its resident birds. Well, it's still generally the same. Oh, for those who don't know yet, Lumen's is an old residential house, where the owner concocts baked and other sweet delicacies -and they are quite popular in this region. They have pastillas and things like roscas, uraro banana/camte chips, tablea and so on. I learned they even also sell 'queseo' (do you know what that is?), soon other things like jams (sabi ni Mana Lumen)! Now... The other thing that make this place a tourist-draw is the living-room ceiling. Birds made it their home too...

I just saw the shirt of this pedicab driver and I clearly read it said Parris Island [note the spelling].., I got very curious as to where might that be, that I don't know, nor haven't heard-of yet, in this country. Hmmm! I couldn't ask the manong as he was moving, and we were too. Thus I went online and discovered that there's only one Parris Island on earth. It is an island district in Port Royal, South Carolina, USA, having been made famous due to it being the home of "Parris Island Recruit Depot" serving as a "US Marine Corps Recruit Depot". So okay, I learned something new today! No, it's not in the Philippines. The manong probably just got that shirt from relatives who live in the US or the shirt may have appeared at, thus he may have bought it, from an ukay-ukay store! Yes, probably! Imagine that, by just reading the shirt of a pedicab driver, led me to know a bit about a distant place! Mapuntahan nga yan one of these days! I...

On the way to Tacloban from some hinter town we passed by a bank's ATM in Palo Leyte. Somewhere nearby, on that row of establishments, is a branch of Panny's Bakeshop, where one of my companions also dropped-by to pick a number of pastries for our afternoon 'meryenda' in the office. And I saw this: Especially that the packs had the 'ensaymada' positioned where they are placed sideway, I got curious what 'ensay' meant in one of those product/price tags. So I asked and the girl said "ah ensaimada sir"! I don't know if there's any right or wrong abbreviation for the name of this delectable "daily bread" that seem to keep evolving through the years! It was "ensaimada", now "ensaymada", shortened to "ensay"! Whatever nomenclature it asssumes in the coming years, I'll still say, this pastry is always delectable. Hey, I'm no foodie. I'm just your mere simple Pinoy Traveler who's pe...